by Z. M. Wilmot
~Captain Darius Ochenko, in a lecture on the exploration of primitive environments
I dropped the rifle and put my hand up to shield my face, waiting to feel the beast’s fangs sinking deep into my flesh.
The feeling didn’t come.
I looked out between my hands to see the green-cloaked man pulling the beast back. His whip was wrapped around three of its hind legs. It squealed pitifully as it was dragged further away from me. The figure flicked his wrist, and the whip snapped – along with some kind of bone within the beast. It shrieked in pain, but the shriek did not hurt my ears this time. The green-cloaked man took a step forward, and thrust the three crossbow bolts in his other hand into the creature’s flesh. The bolts glowed brightly, and I had to cover my eyes. I felt a rush of air, and I opened my eyes. The beast was gone.
The man was still there, however. “Flee the ship, now. It is not safe for you here – and he is coming nearer, as well. Soon I will not be able to overpower him, and you will be on your own. You must escape this world – they will come for you. Just survive, and all will be well.”
As I stood, I had the courage to speak back to him. “Who are you? Who’s coming for me? What was that thing? What did you do to it?”
The man shook his head. “It is irrelevant. Now flee the ship before its spores hatch!” The man vanished without another word.
I began to run for the main cargo hold, then stopped. Adam was lying at the other end of the corridor. I turned around and ran back down the way I had come. He was lying in a crumpled heap on the ground by the wall. I knelt down by him and put my ear against his chest. His heart was still beating. I lifted his head, and considered removing his sunglasses. My hand hovered over them, but I couldn’t do it. It had been strange seeing him without them that one time in the hospital ward, and he seemed to like wearing them.
I got behind him and lifted him up by his arms. He was surprisingly light. I began to walk backwards towards the main cargo hold as fast as I could, dragging Adam along with me. I didn’t pass anyone on my way there, and I found the door relatively quickly. I opened it, and walked into the room. Deciding to leave to the door open, I continued dragging Adam towards the far end of the room.
As I walked backwards, I heard footsteps approach. Four crewmembers ran through the door. They saw me dragging Adam and stopped, panting. I recognized them all: Daniel Oldman, Matthias, Michaela, and one of the members of the environmental staff, Aleks Vesselheff. Aleks and Daniel ran forward and took Adam off of my arms. I didn’t object – Adam had been getting heavier as I had dragged him through the corridors.
I looked at Michaela. “Is Vincent okay?”
She bit her lip and shook her head. I wasn’t surprised, but it still hurt me to think about it. She took a deep breath, then sighed. “Let’s get out of here before the things find us.”
Aleks and Daniel had stopped moving, and I almost ran into them. They dropped Adam onto the ground, and slowly turned to face me. An unnerving look had entered their eyes, and their pupils began to dilate. Matthias, who had been walking next to me, did the same.
Michaela, out in front, turned at the sound of the falling body. “What the hell are you guys doing?”
I wasn’t sure myself, but I didn’t like it. I took a step back as Michaela jogged back over to us. “Guys, come on, we need to get out-” Daniel’s left hand flew backwards and slammed into her face. She slid backwards a few meters and fell to the ground. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Then it happened. The three of them suddenly exploded in a burst of blood and flesh. Where before there had been three men were now three of those alien beasts. They all hissed at me, and opened their mouths wide. I was paralyzed with fear.
It was a good thing for me that Michaela wasn’t. She leapt to her feet and took something out of one of her many pockets. She threw it at the thing that had once been Daniel, and it stuck to its back.
Then it exploded.
The force of the blast sent the other two things flying in opposite directions, and sent me to the floor. Michaela ran towards me. “Let’s go!” I needed no more encouraging. I leapt to my feet, and we both ran to Adam. She took his legs, me his arms. We ran towards the smaller door. The two surviving beasts had gotten to their feet, and were slowly walking towards us.
My vision exploded in a burst of white light, and I stopped moving and closed my eyes tightly until it was gone.”Jak, come on!” I saw that she had not stopped moving.
“But the light…”
She gave me a look. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s get out!” I looked back at the beasts, and blinked. The green-cloaked man stood between us and them. I glanced at Michaela, but she did not seem to notice him. I picked up my pace and followed Michaela towards the door.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot through the air and slammed into Adam. He flew out of our hands, and went straight to the ceiling. He went almost all of the way up, and caught on some piping on the way back down.
“Shit,” swore Michaela. “Come on, he’s gone. Let’s go!” We both sprinted for the door. I glanced back, and saw the two aliens charging for us, the strange man gone.
Michaela threw open the door and ran through. I followed a second later, and slammed the door shut behind me. Without hesitating another moment, we both ran as far as we could, away from the Ambassador and the monstrous things inside of it.
We stopped running as soon as we couldn’t see the ship anymore. Panting, we both turned to look behind us to see if we had been followed. We hadn’t been.
As we both stood there, recovering, we suddenly heard a massive explosion. Waves of energy almost knocked us off of our feet. When we regained our balance, we looked up and saw a massive plume of smoke rising from the direction of the ship. Michaela and I exchanged a look, and slowly walked back the way we had come.
As we approached the clearing that the ship had been in, we saw, through the thick smoke, the charred and burned remains of the once-proud Ambassador. Neither of us questioned it. We just stared, not saying a word. After what seemed like an eternity, we both sat down at the edge of the treeline, staring at the smoking wreckage. We both knew that no one could have survived that.
Of the fifty who had set out on this expedition, only two remained – without any food, water, or shelter.
26
“The first thing you need, if you are stranded on a foreign planet with little or no technology, is shelter. Even before food and water; you can get those later. You don’t know what will happen, and without shelter, however primitive it may be, you are at the mercy of the elements. That is not a situation that you want to be in.”
